Theoretical Foundations and Supporting Evidence

Learn from the creator of the Theory of Second Language Acquisition

Dr. Stephen Krashen's hypotheses are some of the most widely known among linguists and language teachers.

Course presented through animated Q&As and dialog

Drs. Krashen and Mason deliver a concise yet comprehensive course on the theory and research behind Story-Listening and GSSR.

Class 1:

Speaking and Writing Don’t Help

• Forced Speaking Raises Anxiety and Blocks Acquisition
• The Silent Period
• Case History: Armando
• Merrill Swain’s Comprehensible Output Hypothesis
• Comprehensible Output and Undertow

Class 2:

Why Support a Delayed Gratification Approach to Language Education

• The Skill-building Hypothesis
• Skilled-based Conscious Learning Does Not Work
• A Serious Error In Language Education
• Studies Comparing More and Less Input
• The Difference Between the Comprehension Hypothesis and Optimal Input Hypothesis
• Does Gradual Mean Slow?

Class 3:

The Conduit Hypothesis

• The Conduit Hypothesis
• Narrow Reading
• The Three Stages of Language Acquisition
• Evidence to Support the Conduit Hypothesis

Class 4:

The Input Hypothesis and its Rivals

• The Input Hypothesis Defined
• Who are the Rivals?
• Input Hypothesis or Comprehension Hypothesis

Class 5:

Direct Teaching of Vocabulary and Comprehension Checking

• Comprehension Checking
• The Research
• Can Context be Misleading?
• Comprehension Questions After Reading
• Direct Teaching of Vocabulary

Class 6:

Non-Target Input

• Non-Targeted and Targeted Input
• Natural Order of Acquisition
• Targeting and Context
• Evidence Supporting Non-Targeted Input